Family Adventure – Day 2

Morning and it’s sprinkling a little. I can see rain clouds ahead so I’ll be wearing my rain gear to start and see how it goes later.

The motel didn’t have wifi until I got up so no updates. Today it’s a ride from Garden City Kansas to Tulsa Ok.

I’ve been taking more alternate routes vs the main roads but it looks like I’ll have to hit the freeways for most of the ride today.

Get the biked packed up with the new weight distribution, get the rain gear on and head on out.

A few miles down the road had me stopping to put my Aerostich rain gloves on as it started raining a bit. That was light and only lasted to Dodge City. I went through town first to see how big it was then turned around for gas and to see Dodge City.

Stopped at the info center and checked out the tourist stuff. Even picked up a t shirt which I hadn’t planned on. Got some pics of the surroundings but none of it looked like what I expected. Ah well, time to hit the road again.

As I’m leaving Dodge City, I came upon a weird intersection. I made a turn but stopped and took a quick look at the map, decided I was going the wrong way and turned around. Turns out I was going the right way the first time. So I had to make the right at Kinsley and head down to Greensburg so I can head to Wichita.

In Pratt I pulled over for gas and chatted with a couple on their Harley. We exchanged weather info, they were heading back to California via Colorado but hadn’t pick a definitive route yet. I gave them a wave as we headed out.

With the overcast skies, the temps weren’t horrible. In Wichita the sun broke through and the temps started rising. I stopped for a quick break and sent a text to my aunt. Be there at around 4 (it was 12:30).

Got to the toll road and headed on south on 35. In Oklahoma, the roadwork was going on so lanes were 1 lane. The ride went by a little quicker than expected and I reached my exit, route 412. The toll road to Tulsa.

Even that was reasonably nice for a toll road 🙂 At mile marker 35 I stopped in for fresh cold water (I’ve been heavily using a Camelbak) and ran into an MC group (clean and sober). I got the same question I get about the Aerostich and how comfortable the bike is. We chatted about bikes, how fast have I gone, how many miles (“How many!?”), where I’ve ridden and other bike topics.

I texted my aunt again with the 1 hour warning and headed off.

In Tulsa, I found the freeway was closed and under repair and had to head south on 64. I followed it around until I got to 21st Street. Unfortunately I got off early. See Tulsa is a bug plus with north sough streets and east west ones. East side is street name east. So I got off on the west side and decided to cruise through town instead. Man was that humid and hot, apparently a heat index of 120.

I finally pulled in, kickstand down, helmet off and a big hug from my aunt as I announced I’d arrived.

I brought my gear in and took a shower. My under gear was dripping wet and the suit weighed in with five more pounds of sweat.

Once cleaned up, I snagged a soda and we started in chatting. I met with Valerie, a young family friend who was mowing the yard. Then we headed out to snag dinner from the Rib Crib. When we got back, other family members had arrived. Cousin Blair with his wife Cheryl and boys Sebastian and Jayden. Lainey (granddaughter) and her boyfriend Curtis. Then Uncle Michael arrived and we had dinner.

We got acquainted during dinner and after as we’d never met before, chatting about work, sports, toys, etc. Uncle Michael showed off the ‘vette he was getting and the boys ran around playing.

Later after folks left, I broke out one of the card games I brought and taught them something a little different (cannibal pygmies). After Val left, we played Trionimoes then chatted a bit before hitting the sack.

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